August 2011 in Berlin

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Soviet Memorial of Honor, Treptower Park (1)

It's become my habit to visit the Soviet Memorial of Honor (War Memorial) when I'm in the city, to pay my respects.

The installation honors the fallen soldiers of the Red Army in the struggle against fascism. According to
tradition, the mass graves of some 5000 to over 7000 soldiers are on the grounds - representative of 80,000 such fallen in the Battle
of Berlin - either under the sixteen sarcophagi along the perimeter, beneath the
large metal wreaths, or in what would be a burial mound, atop which stands the central figure.

Annual commemorations on the "Day of Liberation from Hitler-fascism through the glorious Soviet army"
still take place on the 8th of May.